LIBRARY OF CONGRESS. 

Bf^to — - 

@^p, - iapiittn]^ f u,- 

— ^%^- 

UNITED STATES OF AMERICA. 



I 



THE PERFECT MAN 

IS THE 

ANTHROPOMORPHIC GOD, 






^Agiarqj 



^nm-- 



CHRISTOS. 

Ey J. D. BUCK, M.D. 




PEACE BE WITH YOU. 




PUBLISHED BY THE 

HERMETIC PUBLISHING COMPANY. 

6?.9 FULTON ST , CHICAGO, ILL. 
1889. 






COPYRI':>HTED 
BY W. P. PHELON, M. D. 



I The Lipp, 

I OF 



-^ 




A, L. FYFE & CO , PRINTERS, CHICAGO. 



INTRODUCTION. 



It matters not whence the form or substance of the following 
discourse may have been derived, for personal credit is not clamed 
for its utterance. It is enough that such ideas exist, have always 
existed, and that they have been expressed in many places, and in 
every age; they are, therefore, the property of no individual, and 
so far as they are true, so far are they universal for truth though 
many sided, is nevertheless one. 

The present design is to bring these truths together, not in a 
new form, but in a form too little recognized at the present day, 
with the belief that their further recognition will promote the 
well-being and happiness of man. 

He who reads only with a spirit of criticism, and is tired there- 
by to controv^ersy, will be neither wiser nor better than before. 
Truth appeals directly to the consciousness and the understanding 
of man, and the response of the truth-seeker is yea, yea, and nay, 
nay. Controversy only darkens the understanding, ministers to 



INTR OD UC TION. 



pride and self-conceit, and silences the voice that is above reason, 
but which speaks directly to the soul, and which is in full accord 
with the highest reason. 

God is ever near to the willing and contrite soul. The Di- 
vine Toice can not be heard in the whirlwind of passion and pride, 
but in the silence may be found the WoiiD, which was, which is, 
and which ever shall be world without end. 

Peace be with you. 





RISTOS„ 



W ^— ^^-/ ^HERE is notlimo^ new nncler tlie sun. The 
most radical present, is the outgrowth of the 




conseryative past, and our goal to-day will be 
our starting-point to-morrow. 

For the divine spark, the consciousness of 
man, there is no past, no future, but one ever- 
lasting now ; for time is only a gap between two eternities, 
the whence and the whither. Either the consciousness of 
man is, or it is not, a spark of Him who is the Ancient of 
Days, without variableness or shadow of turning. The fact 
of consciousness is one thing; the degree of its unfoldment 
and illumination quite another thing. 

Man is involved in the things of sense and time; he be- 
comes bewildered, enslaved, degraded, lost m the labyrinth, 
and at last discouraged and despairing. 



6 CHRIS TOS. 



This is the theme of all religions, the burden of all scrip- 
tures, and every earnest, thoughtful soul knows that it is true. 
How shall this Divine spark, thus lost aud bewildered, be lib- 
erated and restored to its Divine inheritance? Every religion 
discusses this problem, marks out a wa}^ of escape, and li^- 
folds a plan of redemption. The scriptures of these religions 
are each fitted to tlie race and time in which they are reveal- 
ed from the Divine through the divine in man. In all of these 
scriptures the problem and the plan are the same, though the 
form and expression, and, above all, the interpretations, differ: 
differing at first from each other, they finally diffei' with them- 
selves, until the original intent and meaning are lost, and re- 
ligion itself, originalh^ designed to helj) ]nan out of his be- 
wilderment, becomes bewildered and bewildering, itself involv- 
ed in the things of sense and time, so that it is powerless to 
help the human race. 

The core of these religions is true, and is ever the same: 
that which changes is their embodiment in creeds, forms of 
worship, and modes of interpretation, thus necessitating, in 
time, either a revival of essence, or a new form. 

Fortunately, the scriptures of these religions contain the 
true essence, veiled in symbols and allegories, the true inter- 
pretation of which is the ofltice of tlie enlightened understand- 
ing, and hence have arisen prophets and seers in every age. 

This inner ineanmg. being true and changeless, esoteric, 



CHRISTOS. 



becomes, therefore, the guide to exoteric, and the outer more 
or less a guide to the inner meaning. The outer forms of 
these truths, fitted to one age. and modified through all ages, 
conforming originally to the inner or esoteric intent and mean- 
ing, finally loses all semblance of truth, and becomes a body 
without a soul, and unless that religion is brought back to 
the original it disintegrates and finally disappears. Every 
revival of religion is a immature process of this kind. The 
entire loss of a religion is usually folloAved by the disajapear- 
ance of a race, either by decimation or absorption. The 
present is an age of transition, and a very wide-spread effort is 
being made to bring the great religions of the world back to 
their original meaning and purity. 

Xothing can be gained by exchanging one religion, in its 
present degenerate form, for another; the result would only 
be confusion worse confounded. Each religio]i, in its birth 
and prime, being the blossom and fruitage of the spiritual lite 
of a race, would be in its decay but apples of Sodom to a new 
people. On the other hand, the unfolding of a new life from 
the original germ, a genuine rejuvenescence, conforms to the 
history of religions and to the philosophy of history. 

Tliis reformation or rejuvenescence is therefore one of 
explanation, and interpretation in the first instance, to be fol- 
lowed l)y conformity to the essence as better understood and 
more thoroughly comprehended, and the result will be a 



8 CHRIS TOS. 



revival of genuine religion such as tlie world has not witness:- 
ed for centuries. 

Tlie question will at once be asked^ upon what or whose 
authoriry shall the new, or the revival of the old interpreta- 
tion be based ? The answer is, upon the authority of the 
Sacred Scriptures of each religion, each for itself, not by gar- 
bled extracts, by cutting and warping of texts to suit procrus- 
tean creeds, but bi/ the logical sequence and co-ordinate revela- 
tion of the icliole. 

When the Christian Scriptures, and particularly the books 
of the new testament are thus allowed to tell their ownstory^ 
they are in deed and in truth a Divine revelation to man. 
showing him the Way, the Truth, and the Life, and the Risen 
Christ thus resurrected from the tomb of creeds and theology, 
shall again as of old draw all men unto Him. 

It is not essential that the reader shall agree with this view 
of religious beliefs in genera], or with this philosophy of the 
history of religions. We are at present concerned only with 
the Christian religion, which in its essentials is the ruling 
religious power in the Western world, and Ave hold, that it is^ 
here not only the best form, but that it contains all that i& 
necessary or desirable. It is, however, only these essentials 
for which we contend. We shall entirely ignore profane 
history in these considerations, deeming any testimony it may 
give, or may not give, as utterly useless. Just here is the very 



CHRIS TOS, 9 



beginning of the error we seek to remove. All tlie volumes 
that have ever been written, pro, or con, regarding '* the Christ 
of History,"' or '^the Bible of History '' have in no way bene- 
fited the religious life of man. No man has ever found Christ 
or experienced pure and undefiled religion from secular evi- 
dence. No such evidence is in any way necessary to the find- 
ing of Christ, and all such discussions, which have been carried 
on for centuries, and may be continued ad infinitum, only 
serve to darken the understanding and hide the Christ, Our 
thesis is simply this: 

A Ckucified MA:csr; who is also a Risers' Christ. 

This is the Man Jesus. The Christ of Scripture, to the Jews 
a stumbling block; to the Greek, foolishness; to history, a 
myth; and yet Christ is. Whatsoever Christ was, nearly 
two thousand years ago. that He is to-daJ^ and that will he be 
throughout the countless ages, the Redeemer of the Human 
Race. 

By the term ideal, we shall mean, perfect after its kind, a 
full and complete realization of all possible or imagined per- 
fection, not a mere figment of the imagination, as many use 
the term. 

Christ is the Ideal Man. But the attainment of perfection 
is the achievement of divinitj^; therefore, the Ideal Man is the 
Human God. 

In order to realize this conception, let us begin by honest 



10 CHRIS TO S. 



self-examination. Realizing our sins, our follies— and even 
when we aspire to the good, how evil is present with us, let us 
place over against this picture of what we know ourselves to 
be, that which in our best and purest moments we have as- 
pired to become. This will be our first step toward realizing 
the idea of Christ. But we are still a long way off. Now let 
us imagine that, for one whole year, we have put our highest 
conceptions of what we can and ought to be and do in practice, 
(He who lives the life shall know the doctrine.) Let us sup- 
pose that we have led unselfish lives, exercised consideration 
for others, and to the very best of our ability exemplified the 
Divine law of Charity. At the end of our year of probation, 
let us again strive to realize the idea of a perfect man; and, 
though we shall still fall far short of the mark, we shall make 
one very important discovery, viz., that our present ideal is a 
long way ahead of that of a year ago. In other words, Ave 
shall be encouraged by substantial progress; and we shall have 
learned the difference between our ideas^ and the Ideal. 

Now, let us assume that every man has an idea of God. No 
man hath seen God at any time. Nor hath any man now 
living seen Jesus. Let us see how, and in what sense, Christ 
is the '^ only begotten Son of God,*' and how God is revealed 
through Him, and how he can reconcile man to God. Man 
derives his idea of God from two sources. Observing exter- 
nal nature, the phenomenal universe, he finds it made up in 



CHRIS TO S. 11 



brief of matter and force. He sees the mighty sun. and all 
the heavenly orbs rollmg in space; the huge leviathan, and 
the organisms whose theater of life is a drop of water: and. 
throughout all. system and order. And. viewing the instinct- 
ive movements of life, the rolling thunder, the flashing light- 
ning, and. underlying all. a mysterious Power behind a visible 
Xatnre. man derives thence an idea which is two-fold: for 
Power and Nature are as inseparable as they are mysterious. 
and man derives thence his idea of the God of Xature, 

'•'All are but parts of one stupenduous whole. 
Whose body Xature is. and God the soul.'' 

This immanence of Deitv. God in all thino-s. and all thiuf^s 
in God, is pure Pantheism^ and is one side of man's idea of God. 
Now, if man undertakes to give personality to this idea with- 
out the Christ idea, he will create, or imagine a monster, as so 
many have and still do. Let it be borne in mind that we are 
not discussing God. but man's idea of God. 

Man derives his idea of God from another source, as well as 
from external nature. Looking inward into his own soul, and 
taking cognizance of his own nature, to him the greatest of 
mysteries; filled with hopes and desires, with love and hate. 
with ideas, feelings, and emotions, aspiring, despairing, hedged 
about, limited, he realizes his perso})aJif)j, Finding power 
without, and power within, mystery without, and mystery 
within, his idea of God derived from these two sources takes 



12 CHRIS TO S. 



on tlie form or jjersonaliffj. i\ atiire-like Power without, man- 
like Power within, two sides of one idea, more or less confused^ 
more or less elevated, according to his own nature, lie adds to 
his pantheistic idea of divinity the anthropomorphic, or man- 
like idea, Moreover, this idea is strengthened, but still mere 
confused, by such expressions as these: ''The eye of God is 
upon you,'' ^' The hand of God is in it,^' '^ The earth is God's 
footstool.*' and the like. Now, suppose that, instead of tlie 
idea of man derived from himself, the personality of God were 
derived from the idea of the perfect man, or the Christ, the 
anthropomorphism thus revealed, a perfect personality, is still 
God revealed through man; and now, puttiug the two halves 
of this God-idea together, we have, pantheism on the one side, 
and anthropomorphism on the other. Yet 0}ie GocL the same 
God in Nature and man. The difference may thus be seen be- 
tween the personality of God revealed through imperfect man, 
and that revealed through the Christ; the one, half demon, 
half god, and wholly a monster; the other, all the love, gentle- 
ness, tenderness, and compassion, combined with power and 
beneficence, of a perfect Fatherhood and motherhood com- 
bined. This is tlie Personal God revealed by the Perfect Man. 
We have entirely ignored profane history, as having no bear- 
ing on either the externals of Christ or Scripture; no more 
have discussions as to the conception and birth of the '^ Man 
Jesus" anvthin^ to do with the matter. An immaculate 



CHRIS 7' OS, l?> 



conception of a human being is something that connot l>e 
understood, and need not be discussed. The mystery of Clirist 
must be sought in another direction, if it is to be in any man- 
ner unveiled. The mystery of Christ to man is the mystery 
of the perfect to the imperfect, of the Divine Ideal to the 
human idea. 

Now let us see in what sense Christ is the "* only Ijegotten 
of ihe Father.'' Let us suppose that from the bosom of Nature, 
iu the fullness of time, there was, or is to emerge, a perfect, 
ideal man; that the Infinite Power, behind all phenomena, had 
•"from the beginning'' this archetypal man in view, that this 
w:is the Divine Ideal, and that this ronVizrd constitutes the 
Ideal, the Christ. Christ was thus with God at the found- 
ation of the world. This is the word, /. e., the utterance, 
giving-forth, expression, that was in the beginn nig with (iod, 
and was God. 

Christ being thus the Divine Ideal vcallzciK nnin is the 
divine ideal unrealized, or in the process of being realized, or 
being '' begotten.'' If we wish to know what man will be 
when begotten of God, we have only to consider the Christ. 
The God-begotten is perfect, the man-beg )tt:Mi is imperfect. 

Let us consider for a moment what idea this gives of the 
nature of man as we find him to-day in the world, and of his 
mission or purpose in being here. The perfect man, so far 
as lie is related to time and ]>henomenal existence, is of slow 



14 CHRIS TOS. 



growth. A man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief, per- 
fected throno'h sufferino;. He is to become a self-conscious 
center of knowledge, goodness, and power. He is to be tried 
and tempted at all points. Knowing all evil, he is consciously 
and deliberately to prefer all good, till, arriving at perfection, 
accomplishing the Divine Idea, and becoming the Divine 
Ideal, the Christ, in conscious o'oodness. understandino*. and 
power, a co-woriver with God, he too can say ''I am that I 
am." The only begotten of the Father, are thus perfect men- 
Is not this plainly the "' will of God concening us?"' 

Christ said to his disciples: *' I am the vine, ye are the 
branches. I am in you, and ye in me, I and my Father are 
one.'' We are all at one. It may thus be seen that the 
human in man is humanly begotten while the divine in man 
is begotten, by the Father. The Divine Man. perfected 
through suffering, exclaims. If is finished ! 

That which was accomplished, was the Union of the human 
and the divine. Let us bear in mind that to confuse, or to 
confound, is not to unite. The Man Jesus and the God 
Christ, have often been confused, and confounded in man's 
idea^ but not often united. The man Jesus was crucified: the 
God-Christ was deified. Hence *" I have finished the work 
Thou gavest me to do from the foundation of the 
world.'' Jesus, the human, cries. "My God! My God I why 
hast Thou forsaken me?" Christ the Divine, exclaims, 



CHRIS TOS. 15 



^' My God! My God! liow dazzlingly dost Thou glorify mef^ 
Jesus frequently speaks of his glorification that is coming. 
This is the way. the truth, and the life. The crucifixio:^ 

OF THE HUMAX^ IS THE EXTHROXEMEXT OE THE DlYIXE. 

What is it then to be a follower after Christ? surely some- 
thing more than a matter of sentiment or intellectual belief, 
if we are to become partakers with Christ? 

The whole meanijig and aim of life becomes a striving after 
Ideal Manhood, and Womanhood, a continual effort to realize 
the Divine Ideal. Christ is called the "Elder Brother.*' thus 
recognizing kinship with even the weakest and poorest. In- 
asmuch as ye did it to one of the least of these. My BrofJie)-^ 
ye did it unto me. 

It is a terrible mistake to suppose that the bare recital of a 
formula, 'T believe."' is all that is necessary for salvation, and 
that ''because Christ died.** our formula will save us. Christ 
never died, and never can die. Christ was glorified, through 
the suffering of Jesus, the human, and the Christ in us^ niay 
be glorified in the same way. 

Work out your ovsii salvation with fear and trembling. 
Man, as man. can not save himself, but the Christ in man can. 
The human perishes: the divine endures, and yet it is a great 
mistake to imagine that birth is the beginning or death the 
end of man. 

What we call time, is but a space between two eternities, 



16 CNRISTOS, 



and when time drops out, eteriut[/ only remains. It would be 
just as correct to say that we die into this world, and are born 
out of it. as to say that we are born into it, and die out of it. 
Birth and death are but opposite shores of the river of time, 
the river that flows between two oceans, the whence and the 
w4iither. 

Is it not then high time for man to begin, not only to real- 
ize his nature and destiny, but to work consciously instead of 
blindly toward his goal? The great myst'r^ry is by no means 
past finding out, but it must be sought /ritJn/i the liuman 
soul, it can never be revealed from without. Only the spirit 
can discern the things of the spirit. "The Great God Pan.'^ 
the Power revealed in physical nature, is utterly regardless of 
individuals, yet see how zealously he guards the race, and pre- 
serves the human type. The mummied Pharaohs might have 
been pulled from some burning building only yesterday, and 
their scrolls of papyrus reveal the same old story, ever new^ 
of love or hate, ambition, pride, and — death. With fire and 
flood, whirlwind, and avalanche, thousands are swept from 
the green earth or the desert plains, their bodies buried for 
ages, or turned to stone, or feeding other "worms of dust"' or 
adding flame to flower, and life to wood and vale. Man has 
nothing to hope for from physical nature. Animals devour 
each other, and men devour both animals and each other! 
[Neither the Xatural. the Animal, nor the Human give hope 



CHRIS TOS, 17 



to man, but when with weary, blood-stained feet man climbs 
np into the Divine, he begins to learn the story of life and the 
secret of power. When he opens the windows of his soul, 
and lets in the light, he will know how the morning and the 
evening are the first day, for the light that shineth in a dark 
place is the Son of Righteousness, the Christ imprisoned in 
the human soul, which is to be lifted up. 

There is no other name given under heaven whereby vre can 
be saved. But what is this name? Christ, or Jesus, or Re- 
deemer, or Good Shepherd? The true naine is an embodied 
idectj and that idea is ^'Christos'^ Any other name which con- 
veijs the same idea will do, for the names are many, but any 
other idea by any name is not set forth by the Master. The 
Jews looked for a King, and the rabble hailed him King of the 
Jews, notwithstanding Jesus declared ''My kingdom is not o£ 
this world."' 

The Jews mistook the idea of a spiritual for a temporal 
kingdom, just as thousands do still, who mistake redemption 
for salvation. He who is redeemed, regenerated, has no need 
of salvation, while he who is saved may still need to be re- 
deemed. 

Take man as we often find him, selfish, full of evil passions, 
and given over to all uncharitableness, and it might very just- 
ly be considered whether he is really w^orth saving, as he is. 
It may thus be seen that the bare idea of salvation docs not 



CHRIST OS. 



necessarily involve the idea of regeneration. The idea salva- 
tion is often wholly selfish; the idea of regeneration is divine. 
The regenerated man is a co-worker vrith God for the eleva- 
tion of the whole human race. To be saved from destruction 
may be only the perpetuation of evil ; and to be saved from the 
penalty of sin may be an act of injustice. There is a great 
difference between mystery, and mystification. All nature is 
full of mystery, to the ignorant, but as man advances in 
knowledge the mystery recedes before him like mist before 
the risino' sun. But when man advances consciouslv toward 
a divine ideal, instead of being blindly led by passion and sel- 
fishness, or being goaded on by fear; when, instead of being 
driven hither and thither by fortuitous circumstances, the 
soul within him hath said, with a determination that nothing 
can withstand, 'T will arise and go to my father,*' his feet are 
in the strait and narrow way, and the mystery of god-likeness 
begins to be revealed. Jesus said to such as these, *'The works 
that I do, ye shall do also, and greater than these shall ye do.'' 
Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, and no tongue can tell the 
glory that shall be revealed. As one of old said, whether in 
the bodv or out of the bodv he knew not. but he saw thinsrs 
impossible to utter. 

The idea for which we contend is a living presence , within the 
soul of man ; a goal that is worthy of man's hopes, which neither 
mystifies nor deludes him, and which demands all his energies. 



CHRJSTOS. 19 



It is not enougli to put away sin. or to attain a passive or 
apathetic condition of belief. If a tree were dead all but tlie 
roots, and we were to lop off the dead branches, it might be 
less unsightly than before, or the shock might even kill out 
the little remaining life. The good hushandman prunes and 
trains the branches, having in mind the perfect tree, and all 
and all nature works wnth hini to accomplish the ideal. There 
is a pushing forward toward the light, an aspiring toward the 
sun, a reaching outward toward the green earth. In every 
way and in all directions an unfoldiug, evolving, and involv- 
ing, to reach perfection. 

Xever. till one gaius some conception of the real meaning 
of the Christ Idea, can he have any adequate conception of 
the nature and destiny of man, or the meaning of human life. 
The scientist mav dissect the bodies of the dead of all time, 
with the whole earth as a necropolis, or he may vivisect every 
thing that breathes, and. with scalpel, microscope, crucible, 
weights and measures, explore the whole creation, and not 
merely for three-score years, but for eternity, and never un- 
veil the mystery of life, or discover the ministry and destiny 
of man. He is look-i/u/ in flie irronrj direction. He will dis- 
cover no more than the worm that crawls about the root of 
some lofty tree, or even devours the roots till the tree falls, 
and continues to devour till not an atom remains. Little does 
the vrorm imagine the lofty spires that wave a welcome to 



20 CHRIS TO S, 



the breeze, the green leaves that drink in the light and dew, 
the flower and fruit that hang like benedictions among the 
branches. 

Man has his roots struck deep in outward nature, and his 
bodj^ is akin to all life, and he pays continually his debt to 
nature, tribute at every step. If man turns his gaze within. 
to discover his own nature, he is looking in the ricjlit direction^ 
but still all is darkness and mystery. He can not still the de- 
mons of selfishness, passion and pride, and he hears not the 
"still S))ian voice j^' and the eyes of his soul are darkened as 
with a veil. But let him enter his Kino'dom. and erect there 
an altar, and place thereon a light. Let him build his altar 
with desire for tndli alone, and determination to '4ionor 
every truth by use," and let Inm place on tlie altar the light 
of conscience, and then let him look and listen in silence, a- 
lone with his own soul. Let him realize what he is. and en- 
deavor to realize Avhat he may become, and when he hears the 
voice of the Father calling him as though a long way off, let 
him know that it is the Christ that speaks in him, and 
presently his own soul will teach him more of God and Xature. 
and of himself, than all the books and all the schools of the 
world. 

It is a law of nature that the power and knowledge of man 
extend to all below him. and that he is under dominion of all 
above him. He who "leads the life" mav climb from heii?ht 



CHRIS TOS, 21 



to lieigbr of being, but be wbo woukl kno\T or eommaiub 
must look beneatb bini. Being must go before doing or know- 
ing. 

Xow witb tbis idea of God. and Cbrist, and Xature, and 
Man. tbe mystery of buman life on tbis planet begins to dis- 
appear. Viewed in its bighest and best sense, life is a Be- 
coming, and a Begetting. Tins present life is one stage of 
o'estation, God tbe Fatber. in tbe womb of Motber Xnture be- 
getting, developing, andperfeetmg tbe buman soul; and wben 
tbe soul is tbus perfected, tbe Cbrist is revealed, and man be- 
comes "tbe only begotten of the Fatber." and tbe well beloved 
of tbe Motber. a Divine Xature. tbe Perfect Man. tbe An- 
thropomorpbic God. 

AYby tben, in tbis process of regeneration, are tbe abortions 
so many and tbe Cbrists so few? Tbe ideal man must stand 
alone, a conscious center of wisdom, goodness and power, as 
tbe son of an earthly father may stand beside his fatber, work- 
ing with him tov\'ard mutual aims, and ends, independent, and 
yet at one witb bun. Tbe Creator of man has done His part, 
but man fails continually in bis own part. Suppose God 
were to accomplish tbe whole work without man's co-opera- 
tion, an innocent angel and not a virtuous man would be the 
result, and tbe other worlds that sprinkle space may be full 
of such angels, and these angels may be born as men. to be- 
come a little bio'ber than tbe ano-els, as virtue is ever above 



22 CHRIST OS, 



innocence. Man learns and knows only b\^ experience. He 
must dnnk the cup of sorrow, in order to scale the heights of 
joy. He must have liberty to choose, in order that he may 
learn to appreciate and to prefer. He must know the bitter- 
ness of pain and suffering, the disapointment of ambitioij. the 
folly of pride, the despair of greed, the satiety of lust and 
worthlessness of life, in order that he may know good from 
evil, and learn to serve and deliberately prefer the good /or ?Y.s- 
own bcike^ and to hate and despise evil for its ouii sake^ and so 
l^ecome a co-worker with the Divine. Building thus his 
house upon the rock, when the floods come, and the winds 
blow, his house shall standi and this rock is Christ, the ideal, 
the pattern after which he builds, and toward which he strives. 
Christ is not merely a name to be worshiped blindly, as 
men worship stocks and stones, a fetish, nor will mere listless 
sejitimentality, or apathetic belief, be of any avail. The 
Christian life is a continual warfare, yet may the valiant 
soldier ever feel that the Christ working in him can never be 
defeated, or put to shame. He may feel a living presence, 
stronger than all the legions of evil, and knowiug thus in 
whom he has trusted, his soul will be at rest, with the Com- 
forter. Good and God are One. What men call evil is the 
nature-side of God, undeveloped good^ the burden that falls 
noiselessly, or with mighty crash, as man pursues his journey 
step by step, up the mount of transfigaration. Human 



CHRISTOS, 23 



nature struggles and pleads for its mess of pottage, and resists 
the divine nature; it binds the soul in chains of sense and 
ease, selfishness, and pride. It fills all nature with illusions, 
and when the cheat is discovered as it is sure to be, soon or 
late, it persuades its victim that it was only a mistake in 
choosing, and points out another flowery path, with the 
inevitable thorns at the end. And so does human nature 
cheat the soul from cradle to grave. Yet even here is Divine 
Beneficence at work for man, beneficent death brings man at 
last to his senses and breaks the delusive spell. 

man! thou art a living soul! Thou hast a mortal body. 
Two natures strive in thee, the human and the divine. 

Arise soul of man! and start bravely on thy journey. 
Thy pains and penalties are but the throes of birth whereby 
Divine Beneficence rouses thee to soul-consciousness from the 
sloth and insensibility of matter. Thy trials and sorrows, 
'^nay even thy sins, if you come to that, have been helps, not 
hindrances.*" by which thy soul has been warned and weaued. 
Make every sin a stepping-stone toward higher paths of peace. 

Carry with thee, man ! the consciousness of thine im- 
mortal destiny, and let the god within thee fashion thee after 
his divine image, for thus art thou being regenerated. 

Fear thou that all-seeing eye, thy conscience, for this is the 
beginning of wisdom. Fear nothing else but this, for nothing 
else can harm thee. This is He who has power to cast thee. 



24 CHRIS TOS, 



soul and body, into lieli. Hast thou never been there, man 
of devious ways ? Art thou afraid of death ? Even thy corpse 
will not be dead, but more alive than ever when the feeling 
soul has departed. The lost art of embalming created the idea 
of death, by trying to defeat the purpose of the endless and 
painless cycles of change which run through all nature. But 
what are even two thousand j^ears as a gap between thy two 
eternities, thy measureless past, and thine endless futui'e? 
And thy little span of time is neither more nor less for the 
destiny of thy cast off garment. Far wiser is the serpent, 
that leaves his slough in the grass, to be blown by willing 
winds wherever the winds jnay will. 

Thou mayest put thy last great enemy under foot here, and 
now, for the sting of death is the fear thereof; for whenever 
thou art conscious of thy soul, and listening to thy conscience, 
no roar of battle nor crash of worlds can silence the voice of 
thy Redeemer. How then can pale and silent death, which 
opens only prison doors^ affright thee? 

This is the truth that makes men free. Change is written 
everywhere. Tliat which changes not, is not. Hadst thou 
but a single glimpse beyond the gates, thou wouldst seek pale 
death as lover seeks his bride, and only duty yet undone could 
bid thee stay. Wake from thy slumber, Immortal! and 
open thy gates, that the King of Glory may come in. Thy 
Lord, thy Christ, He is the King of Glory. Prepare thou the 



CHRISTOS. 25 



way of tlie Lord, tlttj Lord, thy Higher Self . Open thine eyes, 
blind! and claim thine inheritance. Arise and go to thy 
Father, who seeth thee afar off, longing to hang upon thy 
neck and kiss thee. Fill no more thy soul with Jiusks. The 
Kingdom of heaven is within thee. Open thou the golden 
gates, and place thy Christ upon the throne of thy life, and 
let all thy powers serve Him. Let every passion bend the 
knee and serve with willing feet. Deal justly, walk upright- 
ly, feed the hungry, clothe the naked; and to thy Higher Self, 
thy Christ, shall be glory, and power, and understanding; for 
every thing that is in thee shall praise and bless and adore the 
Christ that is still above thee, as an overshadowing, risen Lord. 
Thou shalt love the Lord tlvj God with all thy heart, and thy 
neighbor as thyself. 

We have endeavored to show who is the Lord of every soul, 
and how he is to be sought, and where found, and the law of 
charity, the love of neighbor, establishes the Brotherhood of 
Man. 

There is plenty of evidence to show that the primitive 
Church, before the days of Constantine, exemplified these two 
commandments, on which hang all the law and the prophets; 
but, when temporal power united with ecclesiasticism, the 
Church militant ceased to be the Church triumphant, and we 
all know the history of this mighty engine of power, which 
made still darker the dark ao^es. There have been honest souls 



26 CHRIST OS. 



in all ages who have sought and found the Christ, and all 
honest seekers may find Him still, untrammeled by theologies 
which they can not understand, or by creeds which they can 
not hold. All these are the work of man, often of earnest 
and good men, who realized more than they could explain. 
Let us pass by these with charity, and even reverence, and 
seek the new and ever living waters at the fountain-head. 

The age of denial and materialism is upon us, pseudo-science 
difies the microscope and the telescope, and supreme folly de- 
clares in its heart that there is no God, and no soul in man. 
Even the true scientist is agnostic, bcAvildered, and yet is he 
reverent to Truth, as far as he apprehends it. The grandest 
of all truths is that embodied in the Christ Idea; in it lies now 
and ever the redemption and happiness of humanity. Let us 
then lay by all else, reserving our creeds and our theologies 
for our own private use, and unite in carrying to the front, 
and to the ver}^ pinnacle, this one idea. 

The Perfect Man is the anthropomorphic God, a living, 
present Christ, in every human soul. 



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URSULA N. SESTEFELD'S 

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COMPRISED IX 

Eighteen Lessons and Twelve Sections^ 



A PRIMAHY COURSE OF IJSTSTRUCTIO]?^. 



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Section VIII. Lesson L Regeneration and Atonement. 
Section VIII. Lesson 2. "" Classitlcation. 

Section IX. Lesson 1. Affirmation and Negation. 

Section IX. Les-on2. Declaration of Independence. 

Section X. Manifesting the Signs. fence. 

Section XL Lesson l. Mesmerism and Thought Traiisfer- 
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SecttonXIL Lesson 1. Directions for Treating. 
Section XII. Lesson 2. Advice to Students, 

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